Calling with confidence

In spite of the deep snow, 40 recorder players from York and the surrounding area, aged 6-76, made it to the National Centre for Early Music on Saturday to take part in the Come and Play Recorder workshop and concert as part of the York Residents' Festival 2013. Participants were given tuition in how to improve their playing technique, and then put through their paces in a jazz improvisation based around 'Down by the Station.' When volunteers were invited to come out and improvise a note pattern for the group to follow, Kate, a Music at Heart recorder pupil (and, aged 6, the youngest player there), was the first to put herself forward, and played with great clarity, style and confidence.

The workshop continued with a rehearsal of the recorder suite, Through the Arches of Time (Anthony Purnell), which was then performed in concert to a full house, with demonstrations of the different sized instruments of the recorder family by Minster Minstrels players.

Eleanor, a Music at Heart Suzuki mum who attended with her daughter, writes, "I just wanted to let you know what a wonderful experience yesterday was. I absolutely loved being part of it, and felt inspired by the performances of the Minster Minstrels, and I felt so proud of Ruby. My husband and our friends who came with him, were hugely impressed with the whole concert."